Nicholas Brody
Nicholas "Nick" Brody, played by actor Damian Lewis, is a fictional character on the American television series Homeland on Showtime, created by Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon. Brody is a USMC Sergeant who is held as a prisoner of war by al-Qaeda terrorists for eight years. Following his rescue and return home, Brody is hailed as a war hero. However, a CIA officer, Carrie Mathison, suspects that Brody was turned by al-Qaeda, and tries to stop him from potentially committing a terrorist act. Between the first and second season, he is elected to Congress. Character biography Background and personality The series' pilot episode establishes that Brody is a platoon sergeant in the United States Marine Corps who is present during the opening stages of the Iraq War. On May 19, 2003, both Brody and his partner, Scout Sniper Thomas Walker, were captured near the border of Syria by forces loyal to Saddam Hussein. The two men sold to al-Qaeda commander Abu Nazir (Navid Negahban), who transported them to Damascus and held them captive for the following eight years. Brody's guards tortured him and left him in complete isolation for years, but Nazir treated him with kindness in order to gain his trust. Brody converted to Islam while in captivity. Under Nazir's direction, Brody severely beat Walker, believing he had killed him. The episode "Crossfire" reveals that Nazir ended Brody's torture in 2008 and brought him into his home, asking him to teach his son Issa English. Brody soon grew to love the boy as his own son. In 2009, however, Issa was killed in a drone strike while attending school. Brody helped Nazir bury his son and joined him in reciting an Islamic prayer over the child's grave. Shortly thereafter, Brody watched a television appearance by Vice President William Walden (Jamey Sheridan), who falsely claimed that no children were killed in the drone strike. Outraged, Brody swore revenge on Walden and agreed to kill him in a suicide attack. Season one After being transported to Afghanistan, Brody is rescued by Delta Force troops during a raid on a terrorist compound. He is soon flown back to the United States, where he is reunited with his wife, Jessica (Morena Baccarin), and his children, Dana (Morgan Saylor) and Chris (Jackson Pace). He also meets Walden during a press conference at Andrews Air Force Base. During his follow-up debriefing, Brody finds himself interrogated by CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), who was previously told by an al-Qaeda operative that an American POW had been turned for the purpose of an imminent attack. However, the interrogation is stopped by Carrie's superior, Counterterrorism Center director David Estes (David Harewood). Even so, Carrie manages to set up a slipshod intelligence operation, bugging Brody's house. As he settles back into civilian life, Brody struggles with post traumatic stress disorder and has nightmares about his captivity in Damascus, all of which takes a serious toll on his family. The situation is worsened when he finds out that Jessica and Mike Faber (Diego Klattenhoff), his best friend and fellow Marine, had been in a relationship while he was in captivity. He initially shuns the spotlight, physically assaulting a reporter who enters his backyard. He also angrily rebuffs a suggestion from Faber that he re-enlist in the Marine Corps for a promotion; he declares that he does not want to become the government's "poster boy." However, Brody eventually changes his mind and addresses the press in full uniform outside of his house. Carrie watches Brody's media appearances and notices that he taps his fingers in a repeated pattern, believing that he is giving a coded message. This observation convinces her CIA mentor, Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin), to help her obtain a technically legal FISA warrant for Brody's home. (His finger tapping is in fact a reaction to him not having his Islamic Prayer Beads.) She becomes obsessed with Brody; she continues surveilling him after her warrant expires, and in "Semper I" breaches CIA protocol by approaching him at a support group for veterans. They bond immediately over their shared experiences in the Middle East. In "The Good Soldier", the two become lovers, and Brody considers leaving his wife for her — until, in "The Weekend", he figures out that Carrie suspects him of being a terrorist. He angrily rejects her, and goes back to his family. He records a suicide video, intending for it to be released after his attack. This is collected in a drop by Nazir's men. In the season finale episode "Marine One", Brody retrieves a bomb vest and prepares to kill himself along with Walden and his Chiefs of Staff in a suicide attack during a parade ceremony. Walker opens fire on the parade, sending Brody and his targets into a safe room. As Brody prepares to detonate the vest, however, he finds that it doesn't work. After he fixes it in a restroom, Dana calls and asks him to promise he will come home; unbeknownst to Brody, Carrie had shown up at his house and told Dana what he was about to do. Brody decides not to detonate the bomb, and later kills Walker to reassure Nazir of his loyalty. He tells Nazir via phone that he will control America's military actions from the inside, planning to run for a seat in Congress. He then tells Carrie, who has been fired from the CIA, to leave him and his family alone. Season two Six months after the State Department attack, Brody has been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Virginia's 2nd congressional district. Walden approaches Brody and offers to tap him as his running mate during his planned presidential campaign. Meanwhile, Brody meets Roya Hammad (Zuleikha Robinson), a journalist who gives an assignment from Nazir instructing him to retrieve a list of potential attack targets from a safe in Estes' office. Despite his initial reluctance, Brody procures the list. In "State of Independence", Roya tells him to help an al-Qaeda bomb maker get to a safe house, but Brody ends up killing the man when he tries to escape. The incident causes him to miss a speaking engagement that Jessica had arranged for him; she tells him that she has had enough of his lies, and that she is no longer sure of their marriage. When Dana lets slip at school at her father is a Muslim, an angered Jessica confronts Brody and throws his Quran to the floor. Later, Dana helps Brody bury the desecrated Quran. Benrenson finds Brody's suicide tape in Beirut and gives it to Estes. In "New Car Smell", Carrie is reinstated, and an operation is created to monitor Brody's actions. They meet in a hotel bar, where she intuits that he is on to her and arrests him. During the ensuing interrogation in the following episode, new team leader Peter Quinn (Rupert Friend) stabs Brody in the hand. Carrie takes over, and convinces Brody to become a double agent for the CIA, which he tells Jessica as an excuse for his strange behaviour. In "New Car Smell", Dana is involved in a hit and run, accidentally killing a pedestrian while on a joyride with Walden's son Finn, her new boyfriend. Dana wants to tell the police, and reveals all to Jessica and Walden's wife, the latter promising to cover it up. In "The Clearing", Brody takes Dana to the police department to report it. Carrie stops him, stating it will affect his cover. Angered, Dana runs away and goes to stay with Faber, who by now has discovered that Brody killed Tom Walker. Carrie tells Faber to stop his investigation into Walker's death, which he reluctantly does. Under pressure, Brody meets Hammad and says he wants out of the plot. He then spends the night with Carrie, and they make love (all heard by Berenson and the operation team.) She convinces him to return to Nazir so they can prevent an attack. He calls Hammad in the morning, but she suspects him. Brody agrees to meet her, and they drive to a desolate field. They are met by one of Nazir's new men, and Brody is taken away in a helicopter. In a warehouse, he meets with Nazir, and reaffirms his loyalty as part of his cover. In "In Memoriam", Brody makes good on his pledge to help stop the attack. Later on, however, he receives a call from Nazir, who is holding Carrie hostage; he threatens to kill her unless Brody helps him kill Walden. Brody goes to Walden's office and texts Nazir the serial number of Walden's pacemaker so Nazir can wirelessly tamper with it and kill Walden. Brody then demands that Nazir let Carrie go, which he does. He meets with Walden and tells him he cannot accept a place on the ticket. When Nazir causes Walden's pacemaker to malfunction, Brody refuses to call an ambulance, and taunts Walden as he dies. That night, after learning that Nazir has been killed, he leaves Jessica and reunites with Carrie. In "The Choice", Brody goes to Walden's funeral with Carrie, who tells him that she has decided to leave the CIA and be with him. Just then, however, a bomb — hidden in Brody's car — detonates and kills 200 of the funeral's attendees, including Walden's family and several CIA agents and government officials. Al-Qaeda then releases his suicide tape, and he is branded a terrorist. Brody reassures Carrie that he had nothing to do with the attack, and she ends up smuggling him into Canada. They tearfully part ways, with Carrie promising to clear his name. Reception For his portrayal of Nicholas Brody in the premiere season of Homeland, Damian Lewis received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama and Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Actor. For the second season, Lewis won the Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama. Additionally, he was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series. References Category:Homeland (TV series) characters Category:Fictional United States Marines Category:Fictional Iraq War veterans Category:Fictional sergeants Category:Fictional prisoners Category:Fictional murderers Category:Fictional antiheroes Category:Fictional characters introduced in 2011